Ferris wheel

ABSTRACT

A collapsible Ferris Wheel has a shaft with a central hub section and two outer sections detachably interconnected, the outer shaft sections being journaled in legs swingably supported on respective carriages while a further carriage, sandwiched between the other two, has a cradle to receive the hub section upon disassembly of the structure. The legs, which come to rest on their carriages in the collapsed position, may have telescoped extensions carrying the journal bearings for the shift and are also provided with hoods projecting upwardly in that position while being downwardly open to receive the upper ends of elevating jacks rising from these carriages.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Anton Schwarzkopf Munsterhausen, Schwaben, Germany [21] Appl. No. 775,791 [22] Filed Nov. 14, 1968 [45] Patented Oct. 12, 1971 v [73] Assignee A. Schwarzkopf Stab] -u. Fahrzeughau Munsterhausen, Schwaben, Germany [32] Priority Nov. 14, 1967 [33] Germany [31] Sch 4l561Ic/NC [54] FERRIS WHEEL 9 Claims, 9 Drawing Figs.

{52] U.S. Cl 272/29, 272/38 [51] Int. Cl A63g 1/00 [50] Field of Search 272/29, 38, 49, 28, 30, 49, 50, 51, 54, 31, 32, 33, 36, 58

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,075,761 1/1963 Ahrens 272/49 X 3,140,092 7/1964 l-lrubetz... 272/36 2,537,399 1/1951 Doris 272/49 X 2,847,216 8/1958 Courtney 272/29 X 2,907,568 10/1959 Velare et a1. 272/29 3,176,983 4/1965 Barber 272/29 3,459,422 8/1969 Winton 272/29x FOREIGN PATENTS 563,170 5 1957 Italy 272/29 OTHER REFERENCES Lionel Construction Sets Instruction Manual pp. 35, 42, and 60. Copyright 1947 by the Lionel Corporation, New York, NY. Copy in Group 330.

Primary Examiner-Anton O. Oechsle Assistant Examiner-Am0ld W. Kramer Attorney-Karl F. Ross ABSTRACT: A collapsible Ferris Wheel has a shaft with a central hub section and two outer sections detachably interconnected, the outer shaft sections being joumaled in legs swingably supported on respective carriages while a further carriage, sandwiched between the other two, has a cradle to receive the hub section upon disassembly of the structure. The legs, which come to rest on their carriages in the collapsed position, may have telescoped extensions carrying the journal bearings for the shift and are also provided with hoods projecting upwardly in that position while being downwardly open to receive the upper ends of elevating jacks rising from these carriages.

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Anton Schwarzkopf BY aw gj Attorney PAIENTEDUCT l2 l97l SHEEI 2 OF 5 3 612, 51 7 INVENTOR.

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Anton Schwarzkopf BY 0i g.

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Anton Schwarzkopf BY GM Attorney PATENTEDnm 12 Ian sum 5 UF 5 3 ,6 1 2.51 7

INVENTORQ Anton Schwarzkopf Attorney FERRIS WHEEL The invention relates to a Ferris wheel with a bearing frame comprises at least two or, preferably, four supports which are inclined at an acute angle and whose upper ends, carrying the shaft of the wheel, are interconnected in pairs.

Ferris wheels of the conventional construction consists of a multiple strut-braced bearing frame which has to be laboriously erected on the base so that the forces generated by the enormous gyrating mass of the wheel may be diverted to the ground. To assemble and dismantle the wheel are thus extremely laborious and time-consuming operations.

It is an object of the invention to avoid these disadvantages and to develop a Ferris wheel which may be larger than a conventional one while still requiring substantially less time for assembly and dismantling.

According to an important feature of my invention, all supports of the Ferris wheel are pivotally mounted on their base, are connected to elevating jacks and, if desired, may be of variable length. lnone preferred embodiment, the supporting base is in the form of a carriage or truck of a flatbed or alligator-type construction, i.e. a carriage with a sunken platform between its front and rear wheels, provided with supporting elements; several interconnected trucks are advantageously disposed side by side, means for vertical adjustment being provided (preferably in the folded-down front walls of the trucks so that all truckslmay be so positioned as to form a common base.

The arrangement in accordancewith the invention enables the bearing frame of Ferris wheels of considerably larger dimensions than the known transportable Ferris wheels to be mounted and transported on the same support. With several interconnected carriages aligned side by side to form acommon base, it is merely necessary for the supports to be swung upwardly from the transport position to the supporting position and to be interconnected, whereupon the body of the F erris wheel is mounted thereon.

Experience has shown that Ferris wheels of this construction require considerably less time for their assembly and removal, so that a greater number of bookings for places of amusement can be accepted.

The supports may have the form of legs pivotally mounted in pairs on respective carriages, these legs normally rising obliquely upwardly and being of tapered cross section so that in their substantially horizontal transport position they clear each others laterally or upwardly projecting lugs. The hinge mounts of the supports are advantageously disposed at different levels so that in the transport position the supports come to lie one above the other. The lugs referred to are advantageously received in hood-shaped attachments close to their pivotal axes, the attachments thus serving as housings for the joints by which each leg is articulatedly connected to the piston rod of the associated elevating jack. This affords the advantage that the supports may be interconnected in their upright positions and thus assembled to form a bearing frame, whereas in their retracted position they may freely rest on the carriage to which they are articulated.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, a crosstie member or brace is hinged to one of the supports, its free end being connected to a corresponding catch on the other support so that a stiff A-shaped bearing frame is obtained. It will be understood that, where two such pairs of supports are provided, a crosstie of this kind may be mounted on each pair.

Advantageously, the individual supports are provided with at least one telescopic extension terminating in the bearing for the Ferris wheel shaft. The support extension is preferably vertically adjustable by means of a cable winch or the like and may be locked mechanically in its extended position relative to the support. This device makes the Ferris-wheel radius independent of the length of a single truck. Experience has shown that Ferris wheels constructed in this manner may be of substantially larger dimensions than prior portable structures.

One of the supports, or the extension thereof, carries advantageously the bearing hub of the Ferris-wheel shaft and an arcuate connecting web, the other support or its extension being provided with a recess conforming to the bearing hub and with a cooperating latch adapted to engage the connecting web. With this construction the statically determined disposition of the bearing frame can be realized, advantageously, by raising one support into its operative position and extending it, the other support following with a certain delay to center itself on the previously extended support so that the two supports may then be firmly mechanically interconnected, thus relieving the elevating jacks associated with the individual supports.

Pursuant to a further feature of the invention, a carriage for the transportation of the Ferris-wheel shaft is disposed between the trucks carrying the supports so that, upon disassembly, the shaft may be lowered until it rests in a cradle near an end of that carriage. This measure enables the rather large Ferris-wheel shaft to be dismantled and stored without the need for mechanical conveying elements. After removal of the spokes from the shaft, the shaft supports are lowered to their transport position while the shaft is introduced into its cradle. The Ferris-wheel shaft comprises preferably several, advantageously three, sections flanged together, the outer sections remaining in the bearings of the supporting arms whereas the intermediate section is received by the cradle on the shaft carriage. In the lowered or transport position it is thus merely necessary to separate the flanged connections and to rest the heavy intermediate section of the shaft in its cradle while leaving the remaining parts continue joined to the supports.

The supports are advantageously provided with steps, rungs or the like in order to enable dismantling and assembly of the spokes and similar elements of the Ferris-wheel.

In" accordance with another feature of the invention, furthermore, at least one of the supports, or preferably a pair of them, carries a single traction wheel or a pair of traction wheels connected to a motor and driving a curved rail extending along the spokes of the Ferris-wheel. The traction wheels are preferably rubber tired. The rail may consist of interconnected prismatic, arcuate segments, preferably of cast hollow light-metal rods. Experience has shown that driving means of this construction afford a reliable control of the gyrating masses without the risk of accidents, even with maximum dimensions. Moreover, driving means of this construction involve little expenditure.

In a further modification of the invention, I provide a single pair of supports of obliquely upwardly extending contiguration, on which the Ferris wheelis mouhted in a cantilevered position, and which are swingable about an inclined pivotal axis. In this case, too, the supports may be represented by paired legs.

These and further details of the invention are described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing and in which:

FIG. 1 shows a side elevation of a bearing frame for a Ferris wheel embodying my invention;

FIG. 2 shows a perspective side view of the bearing-frame structure in position for transport;

FIG. 3 is a perspective side view of the bearing-frame structure in an intermediate position during assembly;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the bearing frame;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of one of the supports of the frame provided with a telescopic extension;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of part of a support together with the means for driving the Ferris wheel;

FIG. 7 is a perspective front view of a plurality of trucks with the supports mounted thereon;

FIG. 8 is a corresponding front elevation in operative position; and

FIG. 9 is a front elevation of a construction in which the Ferris wheel is mounted in a cantilevered position.

In the embodiment shown by way of example in FIG. 1, the Ferris wheel according to the invention is provided essentially with a bearing frame 1 including a pair of supporting legs 2 of which are swingable by means of elevating jacks 7 about swivel axes or pivots 8. In the construction illustrated in FIG. 1, the pivots 8 are mounted on a suitable supporting base 6 with reference to which the legs 2 can be raised from their storage or transport position to the operative position shown in FIG. 1, the ends 3 of the legs 2 being interconnected so as to form a bearing 4 in which the shaft 5 of the Ferris wheel may be received.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the supporting base of the bearing frame 1 is formed by three interconnected carriages or trucks 9 of the aforedescribed flatbed or alligator type disposed side by side, the two outer respectively trucks respectively carrying the pivotal axes 8 of respective pairs of supporting legs 2. The erected legs 2 taper obliquely upwardly so that, when they are in the transport position shown in this Figure, the free end of each leg is horizontally offset from the lug l3 and jack 7 of the other leg. It will also be noted from FIG. 2, that the supports 2 are mounted at different levels by means of a high hinge mount 11 and a low hinge mount 12 enabling the supports to assume horizontal, superimposed positions when they are lowered to the transport position.

The individual trucks 9 are provided with individual leveling means in order to compensate for unevennesses of the ground and to relieve the transport wheels of the load of the Ferriswheel. In the illustrated embodiment the front walls of the trucks 9 are tilted down and carry bracing elements, e.g. in the form of hydraulically operated props, to enable adjustment of the correct level of the trucks 9. The front walls of the trucks are reinforced by a grating or lattice 32 (FIG. 8) and may thus cooperate to deflect the considerable dynamic forces to the ground.

In Fig. 3 the legs 2 are shown in their upright, operative position. It will be noted that the lugs 13 are in the form of generally triangular hoods open at their baselines toward the carriages 9 elevating jacks 7 anchored to these carriages so that, as shown in FIG. 2, the jacks may, in the transport position, remain positively connected to the supports 2. FIG. 3 shows also that each leg 2, is of a telescopic construction and is provided with at least one extension 14 at the end of which the bearing 4 for the shaft 5 of the Ferris wheel is joumaled.

Figure 4 shows more clearly the shaft bearing 4 carried on the extension bar 14 of one leg 2 and provided with an arcuate connecting web 15, the extension bar 14 of the second leg being provided with a corresponding recess 16 conforming the bearing 4 and with a suitable latch member 17 in order to ensure that, in conjunction with the connecting web 15, the two extensions 14 may be mechanically interconnected for relieving the jacks 7.

In accordance with the invention, a satisfactory reinforcement of the legs 2 including their extensions 14 is obtained by a cross brace 18 articulated to one leg by a hinge 19, the brace 18 being locked in a catch 20 provided on the other support, in such manner that both legs 2 are rigidly interconnected by the brace 18. The catch 20 may be in the form of a pocket, a flange, or any other mechanical connecting means enabling the brace 18 to be firmly secured in the operative position.

In the modification illustrated in FIG. 5, the bar 14 may be so constructed that its length within the support 2 may be varied. The mountings for the bar 14 are omitted in this view for the sake of simplicity. Wound on a winch drum 21 is a traction cable 22 passing over a guide pulley 23, its lower end being linked to the bar 14 at 24. Any suitable means may be provided for driving the winch 21. The bar 14 may be adjusted at any level by means of this device, a clamp 37 being in addition provided between the support 2 and its extension 14 so that a mechanically secure connection between the two parts may be ensured when the support 2 and its extension 14 have reached the correct position for storage. To facilitate such adjustment, the leg 2 is shown provided with steps or rungs 40 as noted above. The traction cable 22 is thus relieved of stress.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6 shows that a traction wheel 30, or a pair of preferably rubber-tired traction wheels, are rotatable on a single support or on two supports 2 and provided with suitable driving means while engaging a curved rail 31 which is fixedly connected to the spokes 21 of the Ferris wheel. Thus, the rotation of the Ferris wheel results from the friction between the wheels 30 and the curved rail 31 consisting preferably of a hollow prismatic rod, advantageously a light-metal casting, assembled from segments to form a large ring. In the construction illustrated in FIG. 6, the centripetal force of the wheels 30 acts upon the rail 31. However, a pair of traction wheels may act from opposite sides upon the rail 31.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate the simple method by which the Ferris wheel is dismantled. In the illustrated embodiment, the shaft of the Ferris wheel consists of three sections, namely one intermediate section 27 and two lateral sections 28 securely interconnected by suitable flanged discs. In the position of FIG. 7, the intermediate section 27 of the shaft is caught in a suitable bearing or cradle 26 provided on a carriage or truck 9. When the Ferris wheel is dismantled, it is merely necessary that the two supports 2 carrying the Ferris wheel shaft 5 be swung down to their horizontal transport position as the central hub section 27 of the shaft is automatically introduced into its bearing 26. In this position, the flanged connections are disengaged, whereupon the intermediate section remains on its truck 9, whereas the two lateral sections 28 of the the wheel shaft remain in their bearings 4. The erection and collapse of the frame 1 and the mounting of the shaft 5 during the assembly and dismantling operations proceed, therefore within a very short time. In the upright position it is thus merely necessary to install the spokes of the Ferris wheel in a manner known per se.

It will be noted from FIG. 8 that further carriages, in addition to the trucks 9 for mounting the supports 2 and the wheel shaft 5, may be provided to carry the necessary equipment for the boarding and exit stations of the Ferris wheel. The intermediate carriage 9 carrying the wheel shaft 5 also carries the spokes of the dismantled Ferris wheel.

Finally, it will be noted from the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9 that the invention also extends to cantilevered Ferris wheels in which two supports 33 carry a unilaterally joumaled bearing axle 35 and are swingable about a sloping axis 36. In this construction, also, the bearing frame may be readily raised to an upright position. The inclined axis 36 affords the advantage that, despite projecting laterally, the legs 33 may be stored on a vehicle 9 for conveyance, since the inclined axis compensates in the transport position for the oblique shape of these legs.

I claim:

1. In a Ferris-wheel structure having a mobile base, leg means swingably mounted on said base, bearing means carried on said leg means for elevation thereby to a level above said base, and a wheel shaft joumaled in said bearing means, the improvement wherein said shaft is axially divided into a plurality of sections including a journal section received in said bearing means and a hub section detachably connected with said journal section, said base being subdivided into separable parallel portions including a first portion supporting said leg means and a second portion provided with a cradle for receiving and retaining said hub section upon disassembly of the structure whereby said leg means and said hub section may be independently stored and transported on said first and second portions, respectively, upon separation of said portions.

2. The improvement defined in claim 1 wherein said first portion comprises two outer carriages and said second portion comprises a central carriage flanked by said outer carriages, said leg means including two pairs of legs respectively mounted on said outer carriages for swinging about parallel axes into an erected position in which the legs of each pair converge upwardly, the free ends of each pair of legs being provided with latch means for releasably interconnecting same, said bearing means being a pair of bearings each carried on the free end of a leg of a respective pair, said journal section being a pair of end sections respectively joumaled in said bearings.

3. The improvement defined in claim 2 wherein said carriages are provided with individual leveling means to compensate for uneven terrain.

4. The improvement defined in claim 2 wherein each of said legs is provided with a telescoped extension at said free end thereof and with mechanism for varying the combined length of the leg and its extension, said bearings being supported by said extensions.

5. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein the leg is provided with step means lending to its extension.

6. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein said mechanism comprises winch means in the leg and cable means extending from said winch means to said extension.

7. The improvement defined in claim 1 wherein said leg means comprises a pair of legs with hinged ends articulated to said first portion at spaced-apart locations for swinging about parallel axes into an erected position in which their opposite ends converge, said legs being provided with drive means for so erecting same and for returning same to a retracted position on said base, said drive means including an individual jack for each leg anchored to said base, each leg being provided near its hinged end with a hood rising above the leg in said retracted position while being downwardly open to receive said jack, the latter being joined to the leg within said hood.

8. The improvement defined in claim 7 wherein said hood is generally triangular and open at the baseline of the triangle.

9. The improvement defined in claim 7 wherein said legs overlie one another in said retracted position with their free ends laterally offset from each others jacks and hoods. 

1. In a Ferris-wheel structure having a mobile base, leg means swingably mounted on said base, bearing means carried on said leg means for elevation thereby to a level above said base, and a wheel shaft journaled in said bearing means, the improvement wherein said shaft is axially divided into a plurality of sections including a journal section received in said bearing means and a hub section detachably connected with said journal section, said base being subdivided into separable parallel portions including a first portion supporting said leg means and a second portion provided with a cradle for receiving and retaining said hub section upon disassembly of the structure whereby said leg means and said hub section may be independently stored and transported on said first and second portions, respectively, upon separation of said portions.
 2. The improvement defined in claim 1 wherein said first portion comprises two outer carriages and said second portion comprises a central carriage flanked by said outer carriages, said leg means including two pairs of legs respectively mounted on said outer carriages for swinging about parallel axes into an erected position in which the legs of each pair converge upwardly, the free ends of each pair of legs being provided with latch means for releasably interconnecting same, said bearing means being a pair of bearings each carried on the free end of a leg of a respective pair, said journal section being a pair of end sections respectively journaled in said bearings.
 3. The improvement defined in claim 2 wherein said carriages are provided with individual leveling means to compensate for uneven terrain.
 4. The improvement defined in claim 2 wherein each of said legs is provided with a telescoped extension at said free end thereof and with mechanism for varying the combined length of the leg and its extension, said bearings being supported by said extensions.
 5. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein the leg is provided with step means lending to its extension.
 6. The improvement defined in claim 4 wherein said mechanism comprises winch means in the leg and cable means extending from said winch means to said extension.
 7. The improvement defined in claim 1 wherein said leg means comprises a pair of legs with hinged ends articulated to said first portion at spaced-apart locations for swinging about parallel axes into an erected position in which their opposite ends converge, said legs being provided with drive means for so erecting same and for returning same to a retracted position on said base, said drive means including an individual jack for each leg anchored to said base, each leg being provided near its hinged end with a hood rising above the leg in said retracted position while being downwardly open to receive said jack, the latter being joined to the leg within said hood.
 8. The improvement defined in claim 7 wherein said hood is generally triangular and open at the baseline of the triangle.
 9. The improvement defiNed in claim 7 wherein said legs overlie one another in said retracted position with their free ends laterally offset from each other''s jacks and hoods. 